If your horse wouldn't stand for flexion tests, then your vet is right it's likely pain related in the hock or stifle (unfortunately you have to be able to do the full set of flexion tests to help narrow down where the pain is). If your mare wouldn't stand for flexing, then your vet really couldn't do anymore with a physical exam and had a general region that needed to be examined more in-depth. The only way to do this is going to be x-rays of the hock and stifle.

As for what should be done now, you don't know what is wrong and without knowing you can't know what needs to be done. For some conditions turnout is going to be best while for others stall rest would be best.

If you want an answer, rather than spending money on this or that kind of alternative practitioner (who may have very little or a pretty good education), you need to go ahead with the lameness exam and get x-rays of the leg.

thanks for that ... I actually talked to the vet today and it is going to be $325 for the min. Exam/x-rays ... so I am going to talk with my husband and see what we can afford.

Right now she is on stall rest with hand walking every other day. When it stops raining I am going to turn her out so she can move around. Tomorrow (sat.) I am going to take her out in the arena and see if she is still off and how she is looking ...

Twende I thought about the chiropractor ... I might try that, thanks for that advice!

So my next bet since the x-rays were clean is to give her some time and also maybe have a chiropractor out ... I still think it's something in her hip but again im not a vet and my vet seems to think it's something in her fetlock-tissue related...

Well, clean x-rays on a leg are always a good thing. I'm glad to hear it.
Soft tissue injuries can take quite a bit of time to recover so don't rush it. Plenty of stall rest, gentle hand walking with a slow build up to return to work is so important. This is because just like us with a twisted ankle, it starts feeling better so we think we can go back to our normal activity and then it swells back up again.

So I had a Chiropractor come out and they said her hips were REALLY tight(or out or something, I was trying to hard to follow all they said haha) and especially her left side- which could explain why she didn't want to lift her right leg in turn putting all the pressure on her left side. They said that everything they found was so not normal for a race horse. I don't know how to "read" the paper thing that they gave me telling me what they did to her but I am hand walking her for the next few days and then they said to get on her and bring her back to work slowly- anywho I thought it was cool and I hope that it helps- the Dr. Said it should help a lot ... ill keep you all posted! :)

That's great that the x-rays came back clean. I know you've already spent a lot of money on this, but I thought I'd throw this out there. My horse got his hind leg wrapped around a blanket strap a few months ago. His leg swelled up like a balloon for 3 days. He was still tender after the swelling was gone. A friend suggested this stuff called Smart Tendon. It's available on the Smartpak website. It's only $20 for a month supply. Not only did it clear up my horse's tenderness within days, it also ended his problem of stocking up in his hind legs when he's in his stall for too long even though I only used it for the one month. I'd recommend this product to anyone with a horse leg injury.

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